Piracy

Although there is no formal institutional connection between India and NATO, India and the NATO allies, most importantly the United States, informally share an interest in maintaining maritime security in the Indian Ocean and have spent significant resources to combat piracy in this vast area.

Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) created a code of conduct, modeled after the Djibouti Code of Conduct, to increase regional cooperation in combatting piracy. The code of conduct was signed on June 25, 2013, after a conference on maritime safety and security in Yaounde, Cameroon and is also known as the Yaounde Declaration.

The United States restored official relations with Somalia in January 2013 after years of civil unrest there, reflecting an increasingly stable Somali political environment. Better relations with Somalia, however, have little to do with the decrease in piracy, and the drop in offshore piracy cannot be attributed to Somali government efforts.

A surge in pirate attacks off the Somali coast in recent years has prompted the deployment of an international coalition of navies. But experts say that military force alone cannot address the underlying issue of failed Somali governance.

This report of the United Nations Assessment Mission on Piracy in the Gulf of Guineawas released on January 18, 2012. The document was mandated by the UN Secretary-General, to report the "mission to the Gulf of Guinea to assess the scope of the threat of piracy in the region, and take stock of national and regional capacities to ensure maritime safety and security in the region and make recommendations for a possible United Nations response".

Somali pirates have been resilient against efforts to stop them, but a new approach that includes legal measures, controlling financial flows, building regional capacity and more could be the combination that defeats piracy, writes CFR's Michael Lyon Baker.

To defeat piracy in centuries past, governments pursued a more active defense at sea and a political solution on land. The current piracy epidemic off the coast of East Africa requires many of the same tactics.

This briefing note, drawing on a meeting of a roundtable of experts held at Chatham House on 26 February 2009 by the Africa Programme and the International Law Discussion Group, clarifies someof the legal concerns around combating piracy off the Somali coast.

Even as gunboats from across the globe move into their waters, the desperate, well-armed, and increasingly bold bandits of Somalia keep swarming the decks of the world's largest ships. They take what they want, they don't leave until the (higher and higher) ransoms are paid, and they won't stop until a modern-day war against piracy breaks out.

CFR Experts Guide

The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.

New Council Special Reports

Campbell evaluates the implications of the Boko Haram insurgency and recommends that the United States support Nigerian efforts to address the drivers of Boko Haram, such as poverty and corruption, and to foster stronger ties with Nigerian civil society.

Koblentz argues that the United States should work with other nuclear-armed states to manage threats to nuclear stability in the near term and establish processes for multilateral arms control efforts over the longer term.

The authors argue that it is essential to begin working now to expand and establish rules and norms governing armed drones, thereby creating standards of behavior that other countries will be more likely to follow.

2014 Annual Report

Learn more about CFR’s mission and its work over the past year in the 2014 Annual Report. The Annual Report spotlights new initiatives, high-profile events, and authoritative scholarship from CFR experts, and includes a message from CFR President Richard N. Haass.Read and download »